Coin Exhibition Celebrates Hermitage Anniversary

摘要

The Hermitage Museum in the Winter Palace on the banks of the River Neva in St. Petersburg is rightly famed for its magnificent paintings, but it also houses one of the world's best numismatic collections, along with spectacular gold treasures dating back 2,500 years from the steppes of Russia. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the New Hermitage (the fifth building in the Winter Palace complex), the museum's Numismatic Department has unveiled a new exhibition of coins and medals. In the stately Hall of Twelve Columns is a display of some of the rarest items, ranging from ancient Greek gold coins to splendid gold medals commissioned by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762-1796, to honor marriages, famous victories and her favorite, Prince Grigory Potemkin.